Defenders: Losing skid hits six

NORWICH — It may only be 24 games into the regular season, but Bien Figueroa is concerned.

The manager could only watch as his Defenders suffered their sixth consecutive loss Tuesday night, as they returned home to a chilly Dodd Stadium and were handed a 4-1 setback by the Trenton Thunder.

Marc Allard

NORWICH — It may only be 24 games into the regular season, but Bien Figueroa is concerned.

The manager could only watch as his Defenders suffered their sixth consecutive loss Tuesday night, as they returned home to a chilly Dodd Stadium and were handed a 4-1 setback by the Trenton Thunder.

It wasn’t the loss that hurt as much as how they lost.

“It’s still early in the season, but you don’t want to start like this,” Figueroa said. “I’ve told them to have fun, you’re going to win and lose, but we’re not playing good baseball right now. We’re playing very poor.”

Pitching and defense, the cornerstones of a team that hasn’t been able to hit all season, joined the offense in the goat department.

Kelvin Pichardo was brought in to relieve starter Joey Martinez in the seventh inning just after the Defenders (10-14) had taken a 1-0 lead on an RBI fielder’s choice by Travis Ishikawa in the bottom of the sixth.

Pichardo quickly ran into trouble, as he walked Cody Ehlers. The Trenton first baseman found himself on second moments later when P. J. Pilittere put a sharp ground ball to the left side of Connecticut second baseman Travis Denker. Denker made a nice backhand stab to stop the ball from going into the outfield, but he had no play.

Pichardo then walked Chris Malec to load the bases, and he needed only five pitches to send Carlos Mendoza to first and force in Ehlers with the tying run.

“When you walk people, it will kill you,” Figueroa said. “You cannot make errors and you cannot walk people. If you do, you cannot win.”

Ronnie Ray (2-1) came on to put out the fire, as he induced an infield pop and then got Kevin Russo and Austin Jackson looking to end the threat.

But remember what Figueroa said about errors, because they would also haunt the Defenders in the eighth.

Trenton’s Colin Curtis led off with an infield single that was enhanced by a throwing error, which allowed Curtis to go to second base. Matt Carson, who had his 14-game hitting streak broken, brought Curtis home when his infield ground ball found its way past Denker and into the outfield to give Trenton the 2-1 lead.

Ehlers then put the seal on the win for the Thunder (16-10) as he took Ray to right-center field for a two-run homer, his fifth of the season, to account for the final.
The bright spot for the night was Martinez, as the Boston College product pitched the first six innings, allowed only four hits and struck out six.

“It went pretty well when I was in there,” the slightly-built Martinez said. “It’s disappointing, regardless of how you pitch, if you lose. It kind of puts a damper on it.”

Martinez, like so many other Connecticut pitchers, has been the victim of a punchless offense that is hitting an Eastern League-low .215 with only 74 runs scored and 10 home runs.

“It’s not that tough,” Martinez said of pitching in constantly close games. “It’s nice to pitch with a big lead because you can relax and throw more fastballs, but these guys are doing the best they can. They’re going to put up runs eventually. We’re just in a little slump.”

The slump has cost Martinez, who sports a 2.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts and six walks but has an 0-3 won-loss record.

“He had everything working,” Figueroa said of Martinez. “He had good location, a good slider going, a great changeup. He threw very well.”

That the Thunder won shouldn’t come as a surprise: The Yankees’ affiliate won 17 of 18 games a year ago against Connecticut, including 10 of 11 at Dodd Stadium.